To celebrate National Dessert Month in October, here are five facts about treats that have been featured on stamps.
1. A child invented the Popsicle. This year’s Frozen Treats stamps feature colorful, icy pops on sticks — a dessert that traces its roots to 1905, when 11-year-old Frank Epperson combined sugary soda powder with water in a cup and accidentally left the wooden stirrer and mixture out overnight. The next morning, he discovered the concoction was a frozen treat. He began selling what he originally called “Epsicles” in the early 1920s and was granted a patent for his creation in 1924.
2. Flan was created in ancient Rome. Although this dessert is featured on last year’s Delicioso stamps, which recognize the influence of Latin American, Mexican and Caribbean foods, the dish originated elsewhere. Because ancient Romans kept domesticated chickens, they developed new recipes for their surplus eggs — one of which turned out to be a custardy concoction known as flan.
3. Root beer floats originated in the West. The ice-cream-in-soda beverage, one of several treats featured on the 2016 Soda Fountain Favorites stamps, was originally called a black cow. Legend has it the famous dessert was born when a Colorado brewing company owner noticed that the snowy peaks on Colorado’s Cow Mountain looked like ice cream floating in soda.
4. Halloween is a big business. Americans are expected to spend $2.6 billion on Halloween candy this year, according to the National Retail Federation. No wonder the holiday, which was commemorated on Jack-o’-lanterns stamps in 2016, comes during National Dessert Month.
5. There’s a Kiss hidden in the Hershey’s Kisses logo. A sideways Kisses candy can be seen hiding between the “K” and “I” in the famous chocolate treat’s logo. The 2007 With Love and Kisses stamp depicts only an individual piece of the candy, but once you see the logo on a bag of the chocolate candies, you’ll have trouble unseeing it.
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